Davids calls for spirit of cup finals as Maritzburg begin survival campaign

Maritzburg United coach Fadlu Davids has urged his players not to take their foot off the pedal ahead of their opening game of the PSL promotion/relegation playoffs tonight against Casric Stars at the Harry Gwala Stadium (7.30pm). 

The Team of Choice finished in 15th place in the DStv Premiership to ensure they get the chance to retain their status through the playoffs. For that to be a successful mission, they need to get through Cape Town Spurs and Casric.

Davids has called on his players to continue fighting against the drop as they did during their run-in of the recently concluded Premiership season. 

“It’s important to realise where we come from, when I joined the side we were rock bottom... people deemed us relegated already but we persevered and fought up until the last day to get to this point,” Davids told Sowetan. 

“This is not a moment for us to relax, and take our foot off the pedal, it’s a moment to increase the intensity and increase the willpower to give this last push because it’s so difficult because we are playing against teams that have a dream of playing in the Premiership. We have to realise where we come from and use that as motivation to gain the strength to have this final fight.

“Our mindset has to continue where we come from, our final games of the season were like cup finals and this is no different. We played Sundowns, Stellenbosch and our direct rivals Marumo Gallants, those were games where our approach was similar to this, kind of a do or die, we can’t change,” he said.

Looking ahead to this evening’s game, Davids said they had done their analysis on Casric.

“Having watched their five matches in the NFD and their first playoff match, you get to understand what type of profile team they are and the players they have in different positions. We analysed them in detail, we are expecting a tough match and we know which approach we are going to take,” said the former Orlando Pirates coach.